We had the highway almost entirely to ourselves (the long weekend meant people were saving their Death Race home for Monday afternoon). Fresh asphalt in a particularly twisty part of the road brought delight to The Husband, who shot off like a kid and left me to ride in a more moderate fashion. I'm no chicken but he's always been a much more aggressive rider than me.

I never get tired of this view. Wouldn't want to live here - too enclosed and isolated - but love to visit.

We met kindred souls who turns out had tangible connections to us - that whole six-degrees-of-separation theory often contracts down to one or two degrees for us! A few beers turned into a tequila night, and that's all we're saying about THAT.

Still and all, we were up bright and early Monday morning, looking forward to the ride home and only pausing to consider the route.

Last weekend I rode to Revelstoke for The Mother-in-Law's 85th birthday. It was a pleasant affair outside in the lovely weather. Nice to catch up with some of the family.

Brother Walter and wife Susan made a return visit on Monday, delivering some family items for us to cherish and hold in trust for our children.

The Husband is somewhere on the east coast of Lake Michigan, on a motorcycle ride with Friend Marc. I don't expect to see him until close to the end of the month.

So now it's an 'empty' weekend which I'm using for tasks like applying Danish oil to the T&G pine and cedar that we installed in the basement. Manual labour is the best cure for a hellacious week in front of a computer.

I had the neighbour boy and his friend move our sofa and oversize armchair to the basement, to complete the suite's furnishings, almost. I have a dresser in Airdrie which I'll fetch next month. Then we will be open for business! Are you coming to visit?

Friends Adrienne and Ken are mid-move, and have gifted us two chairs with ottomans that will replace the sofa. We've loved that sofa for close onto 20 years and can't quite part with it, but it is enormous and takes up a lot of space (makes a dandy napping couch or pinch-hit bed, though).